School in real life

I love schedules, to-do lists and spreadsheets.  I currently have one of each of those hanging on the wall next to me and I find great satisfaction in crossing things off.  I have a spreadsheet for my workout plan, another one for our schedule and another one for daily school work. Unfortunately, life doesn't always fit in those pretty little boxes.

One day I got home from my run and was trying to get in 10 minutes of abs in the garage.  I struggle with strength training because the second I get home, I get bombarded with life.  Most days the kids come outside with me and get their wiggles out before we start school, but this particular day, Eli was ready to get going and brought his schoolwork outside.  He was getting frustrated that I couldn't help him like he needed and went to the schoolroom.  I figured I should probably roll with his enthusiasm and went to help him.  Before I knew it, all the kids were in there working away.  The boys were doing math and I was giving Alison a spelling test while still trying to get some ab work in.  Nothing like planks and giving spelling words...

My pretty boxes would have Alison doing her work independently in her room, at her desk.  But she doesn't do her best work that way.  She never has liked being by herself and we've found that math is far more successful if she works on it at the kitchen counter while I get lunch ready.  That way I can help talk her through the tough problems, but I'm not hovering.  AND playdough has done wonders.  She's not a fidgeter by any means, but when she plays with this playdough while working on math, she's able to concentrate a lot better.

  I don't have a block in the schedule for "nature walks" or photography, but Alison and Colin have been taking Maya for a walk and taking pictures of flowers they find in the neighborhood.  Then they'll look up what kind of flower it is.  Colin took these pictures and I was so impressed!

I also don't have a block for Lego building, but if there was a homeschool method that was "let your child build Lego's every spare minute he's not working on school" I would be rocking that.  He is so gifted at building...I am so excited to see how he uses this gift.

This and That +the best videos

I'm trying to keep up with taking pictures of Eli's creations.  We set up a table in his room so he could build a city and he bought some containers to organize the bricks into colors.  Every spare second he had this week, he was in here:

Eli builds, Colin plays...it's a perfect combination (i.e. they're not fighting over pieces or games).

This was the garden in the city:

We were walking into the library when Eli shared with me his life plan.  It was too good not to document.  So glad I have this to show his wife some day :)

Basketball season has been rocky.  We're going on 3 practices now where the coach hasn't shown up.  Last week, NO ONE showed up...I was beyond frustrated and needed to sit by the ocean for a minute to decompress.  The boys didn't mind the change of plans.



I love how boys can find a stick anywhere and are instantly entertained.

More building...Eli built this to beat Colin's car.


Piano is going fantastic! The kids have all learned so much in just a month and best of all, are loving it. I've seen the most change in Alison and I'm excited to see her enjoying sitting down to play.

Easter

 

We went to the Shuben's (new friends from church that live just a block away) house for an Easter dinner on Saturday.  They had a big potluck, an egg hunt for the kids and read the Easter story.  They have a mini orchard in their backyard that the boys thought was fun to climb through and find eggs in.

 

 My super cute kids on Sunday morning:

They have all been growing like weeds!  They all picked out their outfits and I just couldn't get over how handsome Colin looked.

Church had an Easter breakfast before service, which was pretty much heaven to our kids.

It's hard to tell from this picture, but Alison is just a smidgen shorter than me now...time to start wearing heels!

When we got home, we had a charcuterie lunch and found baskets.

Sara came over for the afternoon and we dyed eggs.

And she taught Alison and I how to crochet and knit.

 

Why we always end up sitting on the floor of this room, I do no know.  

For dinner we had ham, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, zwiebach and carrot cake.  It was the best!  Sara brought wine from Santa Barbara too :)

Carnegie Art Museum

I did not foresee so many field trips this year, but my philosophy so far has been to say 'yes' to opportunities and see where the adventures take us.  From what I understand, there are three homeschool groups in this area.  The Military Homeschoolers of Ventura County is the largest and most active and the one we "belong" to.  Several people from church participate in the two other groups and we were extended an invitation to join the ACHEV group to tour the Carnegie Art Museum in Oxnard.  Teaching art is a weak spot for me, so I jumped at the chance to expose the kids.

The kids started off in an art class...their most legit art class to date and that includes Alison taking one through the city of Yuma. 

The lesson was perfect for the boys because they were supposed to take an ordinary picture and create a mythical place for it to be in.  That was a piece of cake for them since most things turn into some mythical anyway.

Then they toured the art work and looked at several specific pieces.  The director did a great job guiding the kids through really looking at the art and reflecting on what they were seeing.

The kids actually loved it WAY more than I thought they would and even asked to stay afterwards and look at more of the art.

Strawberry picking!

It's been way too long since we've been able to pick berries!  Probably the top thing we are loving about California is all the fruit and vegetables stands around.  Underwood Family Farms is less than 10 minutes away from our house and now that we've found it, I'm sure it will be a regular stop for us. 

They have animals you can feed,

A well stocked market with fresh produce and eggs,

AND you can pick seasonal berries!

I sure do miss the strawberry ice cream from College Run farms in Virginia...we had to get popsicles instead...

Blueberry picking starts next month if anyone wants to come!

Eli turns 9!!!

Happy Birthday Eli!

This booger was up at 3:30 am!  Needless to say, it was a tired themed birthday.  He may be 9, but he still comes to sit with me every single morning at 7 am.

Alison and Colin set up the party the night before.  I love how much the kids love celebrating each other.

When the rest of the family woke up, we made cinnamon rolls and started the day of celebration.

Eli played with his toys all morning and then we went to Chick-fil-A for lunch and then to the Lego Movie 2.  We were only people at the Theater, so it was just our kind of movie.  Eli could barely keep his eyes open the whole time ;)

For dinner we had cheese pizza and cheese cake for dessert.  I've lost count how many birthdays this makes for the cheese theme.  This year, however, Eli was very specific with his cake wishes.  He even drew me a picture:

He wanted a two layer Roblox themed cheesecake.

He walked me through how he wanted it decorated and viola!  It was super yummy so I think he made a good choice.

I can't wait to see what 9 holds!  All I know, is life is pretty great with Eli in it.

First Basketball game + this weekend

Colin was bummed his team didn't get a snack...

Eli has been patiently waiting for basketball season to start; he has been ready for a long time to jump in!  Colin, on the other hand, had to be talked into playing.  He feels like soccer is more his jam, but we wanted him to give it a shot.  The boys only had one practice before their first game, which made it very entertaining for a little boy who has never played the game.  Colin actually did fantastic and almost made a few baskets.  They are both the tallest on their team too :)

They were pretty wiped after their games.  

Ben's uncle and cousin came for the afternoon.  Sarah lives in LA and Robin was visiting her, so they decided to venture over our way for the day.

Uncle Robin built Legos with the boys and they created railway through a cave,

and an Eli mansion.